Kniteforce Revolution

Toothache, Driving tests, Raves and Hard Drive failures. Yay!

Sep 13, 01:11 PM

Hey Everyone,

Well, its been a crazy few weeks for me. Fully of worry and excitement, and a reasonably large amount of stress and pain. In short, the last 2 or 3 weeks have seen a dying hard drive, loss of music programs, buying a house, passed a driving test, djing in Canada, djing in Detroit, Idealz visiting and the need for 2 teeth to have root canals. So you can skip the rest of the blog if none of that interests you. Some of it doesnt even interest me, and I was living through it he he…Plus, I am writing this in Detroit airport and have nothing else to do, so this will no doubt be a really long and boring post. Go grab a coffee, and get comfy if you are gonna carry on reading.

Lets start with hard drive horrors. My main hard drive on my Mac decided not to work anymore. I have two internal hard drives on my studio Mac. The first contained the OS, and all my programs and itunes music, movies etc etc. The second had all the music and artwork and everything related to my career, if you like. So all the aif / wav files of everything I have ever made, sleeve artwork etc. I have always backed up that second drive – losing all that stuff would be beyond awful. But it never occurred to me to back up the first hard drive. I think this is because I never thought about the music in my itunes before. I have about 120 gig of personal music. Most of this music was backed up already as actual CDs and vinyl. But when I sold my stuff in the UK for the US move, I sold those “originals” and so the itunes folder was actually the only place I had all my old skool and rock and folk and hip hop and everything. So when my hard drive died, I realized that it was a serious problem to lose that stuff.

So I called the Apple care thingy that Bexxie said I should buy when we got the computer. Usually I resist all forms of insurance as they wiggle out of paying when you need them to, but in this case it was a life saver. Mac dude came over, looked puzzled, and decided it wasn’t the hard drive and the logic board needed changing. Which he did. But that didn’t fix it. So he thought that maybe it was the processor. That had to be ordered. A few days later, when it had arrived, he came and replaced that. But a new processor didn’t help either. This was about a week after the hard drive originally conked out, and I was really getting a bit worried – Idealz was arriving the next day, and I still have a computer that wouldn’t load, let alone one that I could make music on. Anyway, eventually the guy managed to boot the computer up off his drive, and he decided that it was the hard drive that was dying. He showed me how to clone my dying drive, which I did, eventually. Because the hard drive was dying, it would falter during the 2-3 hour process, and I would have to start again. But anyway, the night before Idealz arrived, the computer was finally, and thankfully, working again…pretty much. Some of the programs are being extremely irritating, not finding files etc. Some are still broken even now. But at least me and Lee could get on with some tunes.

So I am pleased to report that yes, we have 2 new Idealz tracks ready. One is old skool styled, the other is kinda like Spitting In Ya Eye in style. I will be getting 2 remixes of older Idealz tracks done over the next few weeks – time allowing – and then I will email all those who donated with a link to the tunes. Clips will go up so people can hear what they missed lol…it will be a KFD release, but obviously, the tracks wont be available to download for free like the other releases.

Time is going to be a problem this month. The closing date for the house Bexxie and I have bought is the 30th of September. We are not intending to move in until November for various personal reasons that I am not going into because they are a) irrelevant and b) really boring. But we do need to go to North Carolina for the final closing date, and that will be the weekend at the end of the month gone. I also have Damon in the studio this month – he of the KFA45 Vitality remix. So thats another few days gone. And I have to get SS9 finished. And the podcast mixed and uploaded. And we are already a third of the way into the month of September. So I will get what I can do done, but 2 remixes, a studio visit, a podcast and buying a house are not things that can be squeezed or sped up. Throw in finishing SS9 and the whole thing becomes a little bit too much. So a little patience will be greatly appreciated :o) My guess is that SS9 will have to wait until the October podcast, which will allow me to get the Idealz remixes and a September podcast featuring the Idealz mix up this month. Thats my guess, anyway.

What else? Oh yes, I have learned to drive. I am now driving around New Jersey, so any of you who live around this state, I advise you to take extra care lol. After being pretty worried about the test, it turned out to be much easier than in the UK. Largely because cars in the US are mostly automatic. So no gear changing. Its basically stop, go, turn, park, finish. So that was good. A few days after passing, I picked Idealz up from the airport. Lee is a pretty laid back guy, and he didnt seem too terrified, so I guess my driving is okay. Now I want to buy a car – which is peculiar as I have never cared a damn about cars. Its also confusing because I know nothing about cars, lol. I’m like “Is that a good car? Its a nice color, so maybe!” lol. Ah well.

The parties in Canada were brilliant. Big up to the promoters that bought me over – it was great to see Dain-Ja and all the Ottawa crew, and fun to play in Toronto too. It was a little strange playing in Toronto and it not being for the Goodfellaz, but all things change and the promoter treated me very well. I was there for a few days, so I saw the Goodfellaz crew as well – it was awesome to see James & Jules, Raoul and Jen, E.N.D, Teva and David and all the crew. Even Gobstopper showed up at the party, introduced me as “The best Dj in the world” which was embarrassing (and not true, besides lol) then disappeared. Thanks for that mate :o) And of course, the Toronto ravers were completely brilliant, welcoming me as they always do.

Likewise, Ottawa was its usual friendly and exciting crowd. It was cool to meet new Djs and old friends alike, and the atmosphere was wicked too. I even had a pleasant healthcare argument with Tony Benino lol…More surprising was the reception I got in Detroit last night. Everyone booed and told me to stop playing shitty hardcore music. Not really. No, it seemed like everyone recognized me, and I must have said hello to pretty much every person in the club. I don’t know what went on there – I have never been to Detroit before, well, not since Smart Es, so such a high level of recognition and love was very surprising. I was giving the hugest candy bracelet you ever saw – it pretty much cut off the blood moving to my hand, but it was still a nice gift :o) A big thank you to all the Kanyland ravers for making me feel so welcome, and to the promoters of all 3 events of course. I was treated brilliantly, and had the best time. Thank you.

Through all of this, I have had that slow realization that something wasn’t quite right with my teeth. Firstly, a slight pain every now and again when eating something very cold or very hot. Then it became more frequent, until I reached the point where I am now, which is, not eating lol. Nah, its not that bad, but I did have to go to the dentist, which is one of my least favorite things. And now I have to book an appointment for root canals to be done. Yes, root canals, plural. Fuck. I hate going to the dentist. I have a terrible gag reflex (I could never be gay lol) so I dread dental work. And its no fun for the dentist either – and being British, I get very upset that I am making trouble for the guy who is drilling into my teeth. Which makes me more tense, and then I gag even easier, and round and round it goes until it ends in a glorious shower of vomit and coughing. Lol, not really, but its not much fun. Anyway, if the next few tunes I make are really angry / terrified, you will know why :o).

I may end up making KFA47 available without pressing the vinyl. I cant see how I am going to get time or the money to do this release and the box set. I might make it part of the box set. I am still thinking about these things, but there is so much going on, you will have to just bear with me.

I will add it to the tour dates, but I am playing Bag Face on the 30th of October, and Epidemik on the 7th of November – so 2 chances to see me in London. I would suggest coming to these events if you can, because I doubt I will be back in the UK for quite a while after that. What with a new house and all that stuff. Plus, I am going to slow down my Dj work at the end of the year. I am tired, and I need some time out to get a new set together. I have been struggling with SS9, and once I finish it, I will need a few months for SS10 to be composed, and that will be easier if I am not stressed about the upcoming tour dates. So I expect to take off Jan – March 2010 simply to concentrate on music. Also, Bexxie and I are moving house in November, so the studio will be out of commission while that happens. Basically, the next few months are all over the place, but we will see what we can do and when we can do it :o)

Okay, thats it for now. I will leave you with a few pics of Idealz in New York…Nice one, Luna-C

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